Customer Service Controller

ABSTRACT

Information about a caller is provided to an agent, such as a customer service operator in a customer service call center. In one embodiment, the agent may receive detailed account and/or personal information about the caller before being connected to the actual or live call. For example, the agent receives information from a customer database regarding a customer profile and information from an order database regarding order or transaction information. The customer database and the order database are external to the call center. The agent may modify the customer profile and/or the order or transaction information. The customer database and order database are update accordingly and the information may be transferred along with the call to another agent.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation under 37 C.F.R. §1.53(b) of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/498,173 filed Jul. 6, 2009 (AttorneyDocket No. 4672/09723AUS) now U.S. Pat. No. ______, the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Management and operation of customer service call centers is a rapidlygrowing industry in recent times. A typical consumer dials a toll-freenumber several times per month seeking customer service. Call centersprovide assistance relating to almost every good or service. Callcenters field calls requesting technical support for computers andelectronic devices, requesting assistance with banking or insuranceclaims, and sometimes even placing orders in the drive through at thelocal fast food chain.

Customer service call centers also operate within private networks ofcustomers. For example, a company may employ a customer service callcenter to handle human resource questions and grievances from a privategroup of customers, such as hourly employees, salaried employees orother groups. Other companies or enterprises, such as commoditiesexchanges may use a call center to handle problems from a group ofprivate customers, such as exchange registered traders, brokers, orother financial service professions. The problems experienced by thetraders involve technical support questions regarding the software andhardware used at the exchange, or involve errors or changes in recenttransactions at the exchange. Information regarding these transactionsis stored outside of the customer service call center.

A system for a customer service call center is needed that can accessinformation relating to recent transactions that is located outside ofthe call center and deliver that information to a call center agent withthe routed customer call.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary call center implementation using acustomer service controller.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of an example of the customer servicecontroller.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary call center implementation using acustomer service controller.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary call center implementation using acustomer service controller.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary call center implementation using acustomer service controller.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS AND PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present embodiments relate to systems and methods for providinginformation about a caller to an agent, such as a customer serviceoperator in a customer service call center. In one embodiment, the agentmay receive detailed account and/or personal information about thecaller before being connected to the actual or live call. For example,the agent receives information from a customer database regarding acustomer profile and information from an order database regarding orderor transaction information. The customer database and the order databaseare external to the call center.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a call center implementation usingcustomer service controller 101. FIG. 1 also illustrates a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) 115, a telephony system 103, an agentterminal 109, an agent telephone 111, a customer database 105, and anorder database 107.

The PSTN 115 is part of the worldwide public switched telephone network.Phone calls travel through the PSTN 115 in a similar fashion to thetravel of IP packets travel through the internet. The telephony system103 receives a phone call from the PSTN 115.

The telephony system 103 uses automatic number identification (ANI) toidentify the source of the phone call received from the PSTN 115. Thenumber identifying the source of the phone call provides theidentification data needed to identify the caller. The telephony system103 may also utilize dialed number identification service (DNIS) toidentify what phone number was used to dial the call center. Some callcenters may use more than one phone number. Often, a call center willhandle phone calls consolidated from several business or severalproducts. It is useful in this situation to know which number the callerdialed to reach the call center.

The telephony system 103 sends the identification data to the customerservice controller 101. The customer service controller 101 is incommunication with the agent terminal 109. The telephony system 103routes the call to the agent telephone 111. The telephony system 103 maysend the identification data to the customer service controller 101before it routes the call to the agent telephone 111.

As used herein, the phrases “in communication with” and “coupled with”are defined to mean directly connected to or indirectly connectedthrough one or more intermediate components. Such intermediatecomponents may include both hardware and software based components.

Customer service controller 101 may be embodied on a conventionalcomputer, a hybrid personal computer, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a laptop computer, a mobile telephone or any other device thatcan receive and send information through a communication link. Customerservice controller 101 may include a memory, an interface, a processor,and operating firmware/software that performs functions, such asreceiving input from a user, generating and transmitting instructionsand receiving a response to those instructions. Customer servicecontroller 101 may also include a display device, a keyboard, a mouse, atouch panel, a graphical user interface (GUI), a printer, a scanner,and/or other input/output devices associated with a computer forinteracting with a user.

The customer service controller 101 automatically generates a query tocustomer database 105 using the identification data. The customerdatabase 105 may require authentication from the customer servicecontroller 101. The customer database 105 responds by providing orreturning a customer profile that corresponds to the identificationdata. The customer profile includes information relating to the calleror customer. For example, the customer profile may include the caller'sname, address, phone number, number of calls, time and data of mostrecent call, time and date of first call, or the amount of time thecaller waited thus far on the present call.

The customer service controller 101 generates a second query to orderdatabase 107. The second query is also based on the identification data.The second query may be generated automatically based on an interactivevoice response (IVR). IVR may prompt the user to enter voice commands ortouchtone commands that represent the identification data, which mayinclude a registered phone number, account number, trader number, orother information entered by the caller.

The generation of the second query may be initiated based on an inputfrom the agent. The generation of the second query may be initiatedbased on a combination of an IVR and an input from the agent. The orderdatabase 107 responds by sending back order information to the customerservice controller 101.

One example of a private group of customers that may have access to acall center utilizing customer service controller 101 are the traders ona commodities or stock exchange. One example of an exchange is theChicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), which provides a marketplacewhere futures and options on futures are traded. The exchangeestablishes, for each market provided thereby, a specification thatdefines at least the products traded in that market, minimum quantitiesthat must be traded, and minimum changes in price, which are oftenreferred to as the tick size.

Traders access an electronic trading platform using trading softwarethat displays at least a portion of the order book for a market. Theorder book contains previously received orders. In this way, incomingorders are matched with previously received orders. Through the tradingsoftware, a trader provides parameters for an order for the producttraded in the market. Order database 107 includes at least a portion ofan order book.

The exchange may utilize a customer service call center to handlecustomer service issues relating to technical support of the electronictrading platform as well as problems relating to orders and transactionsmade by way of the exchange. For example, the customer service callcenter may handle inquiries, issues, and support requests fromregistered customer contracts for all components of the exchangeplatform, including electronic trading, order routing and market datainterfaces, and network connectivity. The customer service center may belocated locally at the exchange or may be located remotely, at anylocation worldwide.

In the case of a customer service call center utilized by an exchange,order information may include one or more of the following: quantity ofthe trade, price, date and time that the order was placed, change inprice in the time elapsed from the time that the order was placed, thename of the firm that placed the order, account number used to place theorder, the ticket order number (TON), and a trader identificationnumber.

In the case of a customer service call center utilized by an exchange,the customer profile may include one or more of the following: name,address, phone number, number of calls, time and data of most recentcall, time and date of first call, the amount of time the caller waitedthus far on the present call, and information provided on an authorizedcontacts request form listing the number identified by the ANI.

The authorized contacts request form may include clearing firminformation, the name of the registered user authorized as the contactfor the clearing firm, and additional trader IDs (user IDs) and accountnumber granted access by the clearing firm. The authorized contractrequest form may also identify a level of access for each user. Possiblelevels of access include technical, market, primary firm administrator,and secondary firm administrator. Technical access gives the user orcall access only to technical support issues and not to trade ortransaction information. Market users are callers permitted to verifyorder status, cancel orders, invoke cancellation rules, verify marketdata, and terminate a session due to technical user access.

Primary firm administrator access may be limited to one person per firm,and is the sole recipient of secure data. It is also the referralcontact for any customer calling for assistance. The primary firmadministrator may have access to create credit controls, manage traderprofile table set, modify a user access level, password, and/orsupervise users in addition to market permissions. The secondary firmadministrator is a backup to the primary first administrator. A clearingfirm may have more than one secondary firm administrator.

After the customer service controller 101 presents the customerinformation and the order information, a procedure is followed by theagent to perform the request of the caller. The procedure includes oneor more of verifying security information, establishing the purpose(s)of the call, prioritizing the purposes of the call (if necessary),confirming any cancellation orders, and verifying the state of anyremaining orders.

In order to verify security information, the agent must confirm thecaller's user ID or trader ID. The user ID or trader ID is included inthe customer profile received from the customer database 105, whichindexes customer IDs based on the identification data that may have beenreceived through ANI. This ensures that only calls from authorized usersare fielded by the agent. The caller may also be required to answer oneor more security questions. Security questions may be set by theauthorized contacts request form.

Next, the agent establishes the purpose of the call. Primarily, thepurpose of the call may be technical support of the electronic tradingplatform or problems relating to orders and transactions. Technicalsupport questions may require less security information verificationthan question relating to orders and transactions. Technical supportquestions include connectivity and access problems with the electronicsystems at the exchange.

Requests relating to orders and transactions may include one or more ofcancelling all orders by the firm, canceling all orders by the trader,cancelling specific orders by the trader for more than one product,cancelling orders by more than one trader for a specific product,cancelling individual orders, changing the quantity of an individualorder, and changing the quantity of a set of orders for a trader or afirm.

If necessary, the customer service controller 101 then prioritizes therequests of the caller based on a predetermined priority algorithm. Thepriority algorithm may be based, for example, on market risk orexecution risk.

The customer service controller 101 will then step the agent through aconfirmation procedure to confirm the orders to be cancelled, and uponconfirmation the customer service controller 101 may search again forall orders to confirm that all cancelled orders have, in fact, beencancelled. In order to search for all orders, the customer servicecontroller 101 may query the order database 107 a second time. Finally,the customer service controller 101 may prompt the agent to verify thestate of any remaining orders.

In some cases the agent may not be authorized or qualified to performthe request of the caller. In this situation the agent may wish totransfer the call to a second agent who has the proper authorization orqualifications. The customer service controller 101 displays a list ofagents via output interface 413. The list may include the status of theagents as busy, idle, or available and a timer associated with thestatus. The customer service controller 101 is configured to send arequest back to telephony system 103. The telephony system 103 includesa lookup table that matches agents with their availability,qualifications, and authorizations. The telephony system utilizes thelookup table to select a second agent and sends identificationinformation to the second agent, which now includes the identity of theoriginal agent. The identity of the original agent may be the name ofthe original agent, the agent's ID number, or the agent's telephoneextension.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the customer service controller 101.Customer service controller 101 includes a customer service processor401, an input interface 403, a receiver module 405, a customer databasequery generator 407, an order database query generator 409, a databaseupdate module 411, and an output interface 413. The customer servicecontroller 101 may optionally include a call notes database 415.

The receiver module 405 receives identification data from telephonysystem 103. The identification data identifies the caller by telephonenumber. The receiver module 405 may receive the identification databefore the telephony system 103 routes the call to telephone 111. Thissaves time for the customer and allows the handling and cancellation oforder more quickly in time critical situations.

The customer database query generator 407 automatically queries customerdatabase 105, provides authentication to the customer database 105, andreceives a first response from the customer database 105. The firstresponse may include a customer profile. The customer service databasequery generator 407 is configured to authenticate to the customerdatabase 105.

The order database query generator 409 queries order database 107,provides authentication to the order database 107, and receives a secondresponse from the order database 107. The second response may includeorder or transaction information. The order database query generator 409is also configured to authenticate to the order database 107.

The customer service processor 401 then aggregates the first responseand the second response and presents the aggregated first and secondresponses to the agent by way of output interface 413. The outputinterface 413 of the customer service controller 101 is in communicationwith agent terminal 109.

After following all or part of the procedures discussed above, the agentuses the terminal 109 to enter instructions to modify the informationcontained in one or both of the first response and second response.Terminal 109 is in communication with input interface 403. Through inputinterface 403 the customer service processor 401 receives theinstructions from the agent to modify one or both of the first responseand second response. The customer service processor 401 is incommunication with the database update module 411. Through instructionsfrom the customer service processor 401, the database update module 411sends an update to the corresponding one of the customer database 105and order database 107 based on the instructions received from theagent.

Optional call notes database 415 is in communication with customerservice processor 401. Call notes database 415 stores notes entered byone or more agents using one or more input interface(s) 403. The notesmay include past requests made by the caller or problems that the agenthad with the caller. For example, an agent may wish to record that aparticular customer has repeatedly had the same technical supportissues, has habitually cancelled orders, or has not cooperated orfollowed instructions of the agent. Further, the agent may wish torecord in the notes database 415 that the agent suspects there aresecurity concerns with the particular caller accessing orderinformation. The customer service processor 401 is configured toretrieve the notes automatically upon receipt of identificationinformation of the caller during subsequent calls and present theretrieved notes to the agent.

In addition to the customer database 105, order database 107, and notedatabase 415, databases may be separately included for each ofconfigurations, customer profiles, order status and net positions,reporting, and call disposition.

The customer service processor 401 may be implemented as hardware,software, or software integrated with hardware. The hardware may includemicroprocessors, micro-controllers, or digital signal processors, havingan electronic erasable program read only memory (EEPROM) or flashmemory, static random access memory (RAM), a clocking/timing circuit, orany typical processor utilized in an electrical device. In anotherembodiment, the customer service processor 401 may be implemented as acombination software algorithm and hardware device.

Further, the customer service controller 101 including one or more ofthe customer service processor 401, the input interface 403, thereceiver module 405, the customer database query generator 407, theorder database query generator 409, the database update module 411, theoutput interface 413, and the call notes database 415 may be embodiedusing hardware, software, or hardware integrating with software on aconventional computer, a hybrid personal computer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a mobile telephone or any otherdevice that can receive and send information through a communicationlink.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary call center implementation using acustomer service controller. Since the component parts which areidentical or correspond to those discussed with reference to FIG. 1 aredenoted by the same reference numerals, a description will be given ofonly the point which differs from the first embodiment.

In the call center of FIG. 3, voice over internet protocol (VoIP). VoIPis a system of delivering voice communication using IP packets. Theinternet 215 provides a vehicle for the voice call rather than utilizinga traditional public switched telephone network. In this case, thetelephony system 203 utilizes VoIP to route calls to telephone 211. Thiswould also allow the agent telephone 211 and terminal 209 to becomeintegrated. The agent telephone 211 may be an IP phone running onterminal 209. Terminal 209 may be a conventional computer, a hybridpersonal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptopcomputer, a mobile telephone or any other device that can receive andsend information through a communication link. Further, the telephone211, terminal 209, and customer service controller 101 could all beembodied on a single device or integrated as software running on asingle device.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary call center implementation using acustomer service controller. Since the component parts which areidentical or correspond to those discussed with reference to FIG. 1 aredenoted by the same reference numerals, a description will be given ofonly the point which differs from the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 includes a call center controller 303 and a telephony system 313.In the example shown in FIG. 4, the telephony system 313 may beimplemented as a private branch exchange connected to PSTN. Thetelephony system 313 is configured to route calls upon instruction fromthe call center controller 303. Call center controller 303 may beembodied on a conventional computer, a hybrid personal computer, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a mobile telephoneor any other device that can receive and send information through acommunication link.

FIG. 5 includes a call center controller 303 directly connected to theInternet 215. The call center controller 303 utilizes VoIP, as discussedabove, and routes interactions to customer service controller 101.Interactions may be VoIP calls but may also include email, chat, fax,co-browse or any other type of two way communication that can beaccomplished used Internet Protocol. Internet Protocol communication maybe identified by email address or IP address. The absence of a physicaltelephone in FIG. 5 illustrates that terminal 509 is configured toreceive and transmit voice using a speaker and microphone, headset, orBluetooth transceiver.

Customer service controller 101 may also include a supervisory mode. Inthe supervisory mode a user could initiate an alert indication thatwould be disseminated to all of the agents by way of call centercontroller 303. An alert indication may be used to indicate an emergencysituations and market events. An emergency situation may be weather orterrorism related. A market event is an abrupt change in one or moremarkets, which could be due to economic news that drastically effectstrading activity. In some situations, a system malfunction in theelectronic trading platform may halt the trading market.

Customer service processor 401 may also be configured to receive followup reminders by way of the input interface 403. An agent may wish tofollow up with a caller to make sure a technical support issue wasresolved on an order was corrected properly. The customer serviceprocessor 401 may be configured to store reminders in a reminderdatabase and present the reminders to the agent by calendar day and/ortime of day by way of the output interface 413.

In addition to receiving calls, the customer service controller 101 mayalso be configured to place calls within the call center. Customerservice controller 101 is configured to place a call with telephonysystem 103. The telephony system 103 then routes the call to theappropriate other customer service controller. The calls may be made byextension or by name.

When calls are made by name, the customer service controller 101 sends arequest to the call center controller 303 to place or transfer a call toa name, NAME1. Call center controller 303 includes a lookup table thatlists all available names indexed against their extensions. Call centercontroller 303 retrieves the appropriate extension for NAME1 and sends arequest to telephony system 313 to place or transfer a call to theappropriate extension.

The lookup table that indexes names and extensions may also be dynamicso that agents may utilize different workstations having differentextensions with causing disruption to the call center. The customerservice controller 101 is configured to associate the agent with theextension for telephone 111 when the agent logs into terminal 109.

For example, when an agent, listed as NAME1, logs into terminal 109, thecustomer service controller 101 receives the login. The agent's login isassociated with NAME1. Terminal 109 is associated with the extension fortelephone 111. The customer service controller 101 associates NAME1 withthe extension for telephone 111 and sends a command to call centercontroller 303 to replace the listing for NAME1 to include a new listinghaving the extension for telephone 111. Now future incoming calls ortransferred calls will be routed to the agent and telephone 111 even ifthis is not the agent's usual workstation. In this free seating system,the workstations are interchangeable and no support or maintenance isneeded to move agents within the call center. In addition, agents mayswitch between workstations in different geographical locations. In thefree seating system the call center may be relocated with very littledeployment time. This is particularly valuable in the case of emergencynear the site of the call center.

Telephony system 203 or call center controller 303 may be configured touse skill based routing. Skill based routing involves routing a call toa specific agent based on the skills of the agent. The IVR system mayidentify the type of request that the caller is making. For example, inthe case of the call center supporting a commodities exchange, asdiscussed above, requests may include technical support, ordercancellation, and order modification.

Some agents may be more qualified for one type of request. Some agentsmay not have authorization to complete some requests. Call centercontroller 303 may include a look up table in a skill database thatlists a rating for each agent regarding each available request. Therating may be on a scale from 0 to 10, with a rating of 0 indicatingthat the agent is not authorized to field that type of request.

For example, the agent listed as NAME1 may be listed in the skilldatabase with an 8 rating for technical support, a 0 rating for ordercancellation because NAME1 is not authorized to cancel orders, and a 3rating for order modification. This agent is primarily a technicalsupport agent. Another agent, listed as NAME2 may be listed in the skilldatabase with a 1 rating for technical support, a 9 rating forcancellation, and 9 for modification.

When a call comes into call center controller 303, the IVR will retrievefrom the call what type of request the caller is making. The call centercontroller 303 will choose an agent using the skill database. The callcenter controller 303 may route the call to the most qualified agent.

In another example, the call center controller 303 may route the call toan agent who does not have unique skills. For example, a technicalsupport call may be routed to an agent with a technical support ratingof 5 when a second agent has a technical support rating of 7, if thesecond agent is also the only available agent that has authorization tocancel orders. In this way, a subsequent caller who has needs assistancewith cancelling an order may be assisted by the second agent.

The call center controller 303 is also configured to acquire callstatistics. The call statistics are stored in a statistics database.Call statistics may include call length, call transfer frequencies, orquantity of calls. The call statistics may be acquired and storedindividually for each agent. The call statistics may be acquired andstored individually for each type of request. In this way, call centercontroller 303 can identify which agents are most efficient andeffective for each type of call. Call center controller 303 can thenroute new calls based on these statistics.

Call center controller 303 may be embodied on a conventional computer, ahybrid personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptopcomputer, a mobile telephone or any other device that can receive andsend information through a communication link. Call center controller303 may include a memory, an interface, a processor, and operatingfirmware/software that perform functions, such as receiving input from auser, generating and transmitting instructions, and receiving a responseto those instructions. Call center controller 303 may also include adisplay device, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, a graphical userinterface (GUI), a printer, a scanner, and/or other input/output devicesassociated with a computer for interacting with a user. Call centercontroller 303 may also be implemented in combination with customerservice controller 101 in any of the above embodiments. In someembodiments, call center controller 303 may be coupled to and incommunication with one or more of the customer database 105, orderdatabase 107, and note database 415.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the teachings of the present invention andwithout diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intendedthat such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, from a telephony system, identification data identifying a caller; obtaining, automatically from a database based on the identification data, order information related to the caller that includes information on previously received currently pending orders to trade futures and/or options contracts as visible to a market which is actively trading therein; presenting the obtained order information to an agent; receiving instructions from the agent representing a plurality of requests of the caller, each of the plurality of requests comprising one or more of cancelling all orders by a firm, canceling all orders by a trader, cancelling specific orders by a trader for more than one product, cancelling orders by more than one trader for a specific product, cancelling individual orders, changing the quantity of an individual order, and changing the quantity of a set of orders for a trader or a firm; prioritizing the plurality of requests based on a predetermined priority algorithm which is based on market risk and/or execution risk associated with the previously received currently pending orders; receiving instructions from the agent to fulfill the plurality of requests of the caller; and sending an update to the database based on the instructions received from the agent and the prioritization of the plurality of requests.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification data comprises automatic number identification (ANI).
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification data further comprises the identity of another agent from which the caller was telephonically transferred.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the order information includes one or more of a quantity of trades, a price per trade, a date and time that the order was placed, a change in price in a time elapsed from the date and time that the order was placed, a name of a firm that placed the order, an account number used to place the order, a ticket number for the order, and a trader identification number for the order, wherein the order information includes transaction data based on a trade performed on a financial and commodity derivative exchange.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the options contract includes options on futures.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining again from the database, subsequent to the sending, the order information that includes information on previously received currently pending orders to trade futures and/or options contracts as visible to a market which is actively trading therein, and confirming the update thereof based on the instructions received from the agent and the prioritization of the plurality of requests.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising presenting the obtained order information to the agent for verification.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the database includes a first database and a second database, wherein the first database includes account information associated with the caller and the second database includes the order information.
 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising obtaining authentication data from the first database and using the obtained authentication data to obtain the order information from the second database.
 10. A system comprising: a receiver module operable to receive, from a telephony system, identification data identifying a caller; a query generator operable to obtain from a database order information related to the caller that includes information on previously received currently pending orders to trade futures and/or options contracts as visible to a market which is actively trading therein; an output interface operable to present the obtained order information to an agent; an input interface operable to receive instructions from the agent representing a plurality of requests of the caller, each of the plurality of requests comprising one or more of cancelling all orders by the firm, canceling all orders by the trader, cancelling specific orders by the trader for more than one product, cancelling orders by more than one trader for a specific product, cancelling individual orders, changing the quantity of an individual order, and changing the quantity of a set of orders for a trader or a firm; the input interface being further operative to prioritize the plurality of requests based on a predetermined priority algorithm which is based on market risk and/or execution risk associated with the previously received currently pending orders; the input interface being further operable to receive instructions from the agent to fulfill the plurality of requests of the caller; and an update module operable to send an update to the database based on the instructions received from the agent and the prioritization of the plurality of requests.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the identification data comprises automatic number identification (ANI).
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein the identification data further comprises the identity of another agent from which the caller was telephonically transferred.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the order information includes one or more of a quantity of trades, a price per trade, a date and time that the order was placed, a change in price in time elapsed from the date and time that the order was placed, a name of a firm that placed the order, an account number used to place the order, a ticket number for the order, and a trader identification number for the order.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein the order information includes transaction data based on a trade performed on a financial and commodity derivative exchange.
 15. The system of claim 10, wherein the identification data is received from one of a public switched telephone network, the Internet or a combination thereof.
 16. The system of claim 10 wherein the update module is further operable to obtain, again from the database subsequent to the update being sent, the order information that includes information on previously received currently pending orders to trade futures and/or options contracts as visible to a market which is actively trading therein, and confirm the update thereof based on the instructions received from the agent and the prioritization of the plurality of requests.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein the update module is further operable to present the obtained order information to the agent for verification.
 18. The system of claim 10, wherein the database includes a first database and a second database, wherein the first database includes account information associated with the caller and the second database includes the order information.
 19. The system of claim 18 wherein the query generator is further operative to obtain authentication data from the first database and use the obtained authentication data to obtain the order information from the second database.
 20. A method comprising: receiving identification data from a telephony system identifying a caller; obtaining, based on instructions from a processor via an authenticated query to at least one external database in response to the identification data, order information related to the caller that includes information on previously received currently pending orders to trade futures and/or options contracts as visible to a market which is actively trading therein; displaying a response from the at least one external database on an output interface; receiving instructions from an agent representing a plurality of requests of the caller, each of the plurality of requests comprising one or more of cancelling all orders by the firm, canceling all orders by the trader, cancelling specific orders by the trader for more than one product, cancelling orders by more than one trader for a specific product, cancelling individual orders, changing the quantity of an individual order, and changing the quantity of a set of orders for a trader or a firm; prioritizing the plurality of requests based on a predetermined priority algorithm which is based on market risk and/or execution risk; receiving instructions to fulfill the plurality of requests of the caller; and updating the at least one external database based on the instructions and the prioritization of the plurality of requests.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one external database includes a first database and a second database, wherein the first database includes account information associated with the caller and the second database includes information associated with the options contract order, wherein the telephony system, the first database, and the second database are part of different respective systems located at different respective locations, and wherein the generating of the authenticated query further comprises authenticating the first database and the second database, and wherein the authentications of the first database and the second database are different. 